World Polio Day- It Is Time We Eradicated Polio Once And For All!

World Polio Day is celebrated every year on 24 Oct 2024 and it gives governments and medical policy decision makers another chance at really trying to eradicate polio forever. Polio is a disease caused by a virus called poliomyelitis and it systematically attacks neurons in the brainstem and spinal cord. This day holds special significance for India as we have finally managed to be polio free from March 27 2014 and we have managed to stay like that for over a decade. Now, isn’t that amazing?

Why Celebrating World Polio Day Matters-

This day can be used as a platform to emphasise the importance of continual vaccination in children below 5 years of age. The pulse polio drops drive has been a massive hit- with routine polio vaccination for very young infants at ages of 6, 10 and 14 weeks respectively, along with annual vaccination in February by volunteers and health care workers who come home to vaccinate young children. The theme for this year is ‘End Polio Now’. At this point in time, polio cases have been found to be endemic only in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Systematic vaccination and proper sanitation are the only measures that really work against this virus.

How Does The Virus Spread?

It spreads through contaminated faecal and water due to poor sanitation. There are many types of polio – paralytic and non-paralytic, symptomatic vs asymptomatic etc. But there is no cure for the condition once you get affected and it can spread easily from one infected individual to another.

Conclusion

Staying polio free has been India’s top priority for over a decade and this has been possible because of proper policy making and spreading awareness among the general populace. Large scale immunisation drives are the only way to prevent an outbreak of this dreaded disease which has been around for many thousands of years. Fortunately there are a few hundred cases left in the world and now governments want to stop polio once and for all- which is a noble aspiration, isn’t it?